FOH, Mark Davis.
does this mean they get a new ballpark? Or will they at least do something with the coliseum to make it more baseball friendly?
Every time I see this guy's picture, I think he's the leader of some cult - The Church of Apocalyptic Moose Knuckle or something.
That sucks.
Interesting. Seems like a horrible idea, but hey it's the NFL. Apparently they can't lose.
-Browns fans
Similar situation, in that you get rid of an owner that you should be glad to get out of town, but at least with Cleveland the league was smart enough to force the franchise to leave behind the name/history.
Let's just hope things get really ugly this season for the Raiders. They shouldn't have a single damn fan pay them a penny. The banners they won't show on TV should be interesting.
Wasn't this already known? Or announced? Or just strongly rumored
Yuck. But Vegas doesn't have a viable stadium in the meantime. Unless they go to Sam Boyd - with Carson, CA the NFL has definitely stretched the definition of "viable stadium."
It's a mess. And many of the NFL's messes of late seem self-imposed.
However, the NFL owners get a cut of the relocation fee (I heard ~$25 million for the Raiders), and they get to have away games in LV. They weren't going to vote against this. They don't care about people in Oakland.
Las Vegas Corporate Raiders
...I'll show myself out
NFL football game in 105 degree temps.
I can only imagine the joy of watching an NFL preseason game in Sam Boyd in August or an early fall regular season game. Its still damn hot. I live in Henderson and envision a traffic disaster if they play at Boyd. I can only hope they play in Oakland until the new stadium is built.
Does raise the question, Vegas home field advantage has to be at least 2 or 3 points more than regular home advantage given all of its "world-class shows and attractions"?
Other than watching THE GOAT my football viewing ends on Saturdays.
Oakland is no longer in play.
This recent fascination with Vegas is no different than the fascination all the sports leagues had with the South in the 1990s and why many of those franchises have had issues in recent years.
MLB added the Rays, Marlins, and Diamondbacks. The Rays basically play in a mausoleum and are a threat to move unless they get a new stadium. The Marlins have been constantly in the bottom 5 in attendance for the better part of a decade. The Diamondbacks do seem to be rather popular, however.
NFL moved the Cardinals to Phoenix where it took 15 years and a new stadium for people to actually support the team. They added the Jags who were on the verge of moving until the new owner bought the team. Nobody went to Rams games last year and I don't think that's going to change this year. Good luck getting L.A. to support a second NFL team in the Chargers.
The NHL is failing or has failed in Miami, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Charlotte.
That said, there are some successes. Nashville seems to be an excellent sports town as the Titans and Predators have had success. The Lightning and Diamondbacks tend to do pretty well in Tampa and Phoenix respectively. The NBA seems to be immune as they've had success with recent relocations (Seattle to OKC, Charlotte to NOLA, Vancouver to Memphis).
Las Vegas is the 31st largest metropolitan area in the country (nestled in between San Antonio and Cincinnati). It'll be the 5th smallest market in the league. Green Bay is a special case. The Bengals and Saints have been in town for 50 years. The franchise's best bet is they get support similar to the Titans.
Also, this at least has a chance to work. The NHL putting a team in a desert city full of transplants when THAT FRANCHISE MODEL LITERALLY IS FAILING IN PHOENIX RIGHT NOW is the stupidest thing ever.
TLDR: I'm sure Las Vegas residents will come out and support the team, but this is moving one of the league's premiere franchises to a smaller metropolitan area that may or may not have the local support needed to sustain a professional football franchise in the long term. It still isn't as bad of an idea as the NHL putting a team there.
This recent fascination with Vegas is no different than the fascination all the sports leagues had with the South in the 1990sAnd apparently, they were all convinced that Sun Belt residents really, really liked teal and purple.
seems like they could close in the one end and get to 55-60K pretty easily. rename it 'heat stroke coliseum'.
It would have to be a very cheap, temporary thing as nobody is going to put money into a stadium that will be completely abandoned in three years.
i was actually surprised when i looked it up that they had that much of a stadium. i was expecting a glorified high school stadium, capacity 8K or so.
I have seen nicer high school stadiums in Texas with teams that could probably beat UNLV.
you might be right. i always wondered though how UNLV got john robinson to be their coach after he left USC. seemed like such a huge step down.
His last couple of USC teams weren't all that great, either. I just don't think he had the energy.
It looks like he only had one decent year at UNLV, too--although that doesn't mean a lot.
3 NFL franchises have relocated in the past 18 months all because a bunch of rich assholes want to maximize profits and not pay for their own goddamn stadiums. This despite the fact that studies have shown public funding for stadiums does not return the investment. People wonder why many prefer college sports. This is why right here.
Seems like the Chargers and Raiders both moved now because they couldn't work out a stadium deal with taxpayer dollars. I wonder what will happen with smaller markets in the future when a new stadium is demanded like in Buffalo, New Orleans, or Jacksonville. Will those cities fork over the cash to hold onto their franchise? Will the teams move on to wherever gives them the money?
March 28th, 2017 at 12:50 AM ^
And the NFL is the most profitable of the four leagues, no less.
the Raiders will probably still draw smaller crowds than the Pawn Stars store, the Hoover Dam, the hockey team, and the quickie marriage joint. ;)
Sounds like a natural progression to me.
March 27th, 2017 at 11:33 PM ^
March 27th, 2017 at 11:49 PM ^
Every time a professional sports team moves, I care a little bit less about their league.
Recipe for disaster.
March 28th, 2017 at 12:32 PM ^
One more step closer to this becoming a reality...................unebelievable that the 'home of the free' still has these antiquated rules and restrictions in place in the year 2017.
Once the NFL gives up and gets on board the rest of the professional sports leagues will give up the fight also and sports betting will eventually be legal nationally. Makes no sense to deny this isn't going on already and how it would be worth hundreds of millions. Already being done right on a global scale.
The NBA wants it and MLB is said to be on the fence and leaning for it. It's the NFL that has always been the one group fighting this from happening but moving one of their teams to LV, a city they've wanted nothing to do with in the past, proves times are FINALLY changing.
If an earthquake hits Cali, they'll be the new west coast team. Maybe Davis knows something we don't.